Autocrates was an Athenian comic poet active in the late 5th century BCE, during the Classical period of Greece. He wrote in the tradition of Old Comedy, the same vibrant theatrical style as the famous playwright Aristophanes. According to the ancient Byzantine encyclopedia known as the Suda, he was producing plays around the time of the Peloponnesian War, specifically during the Olympiad of 412–409 BCE. Beyond this rough timeframe, no details of his life are recorded.

Ancient sources credit him with writing seven plays, but only two titles are known today, and both works are considered lost. The only play for which any text survives is Tympanistai ("The Drum-Players" or "The Tambourine-Women"), preserved in a single fragment. The other known title is Tunichos, for which no fragments exist. The subject of Tympanistai suggests his comedy might have touched on themes of ecstatic religious worship, which was a common subject for satire at the time.

Autocrates is a minor figure, but his documented existence is significant for understanding the breadth of Athenian theater. He represents one of the many comic poets whose work has been almost entirely lost, reminding us that the surviving complete plays from authors like Aristophanes are only a small part of a much richer and more diverse dramatic landscape.